Pain, which can vary in severity, is a common symptom in virtually all types of arthritis. Pain is often constant, and may be localized to the joint affected. The pain from arthritis is due to inflammation that occurs around the joint, damage to the joint from disease, daily wear and tear of joint, muscle strains caused by forceful movements against stiff painful joints and fatigue. Other symptoms include swelling, joint stiffness and aching around the joint(s).

Symptoms may include:

Inability to use the hand or walk

Stiffness, which may be worse in the morning, or after use

Malaise and fatigue

Weight loss

Poor sleep

Muscle aches and pains

Tenderness

Difficulty moving the joint

It is common in advanced arthritis for significant secondary changes to occur.

For example, arthritic symptoms might make it difficult for a person to move around and/or exercise, which can lead to secondary effects, such as:

Muscle weakness

Loss of flexibility

Decreased aerobic fitness

These changes, in addition to the primary symptoms, can have a huge impact on quality of life.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis.It can affect both the larger and the smaller joints of the body, including the hands, wrists, feet, back, hip, and knee. The disease is essentially one acquired from daily wear and tear of the joint; however, osteoarthritis can also occur as a result of injury. Osteoarthritis begins in the cartilage and eventually causes the two opposing bones to erode into each other. The condition starts with minor pain during physical activity, but soon the pain can be continuous and even occur while in a state of rest. The pain can be debilitating and prevent one from doing some activities. Osteoarthritis typically affects the weight-bearing joints, such as the back, knee and hip. Osteoarthritis is most commonly a disease of the elderly. More than 30 percent of women have some degree of osteoarthritis by age 65. Risk factors for osteoarthritis include prior joint trauma, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle.

There is no known cure for osteoarthritis. Treatment options vary depending on the type of arthritis and include physical therapy, lifestyle changes (including exercise and weight control), orthopedic bracing, and medications. Joint replacement surgery may be required in eroding forms of arthritis. Medications can help reduce inflammation in the joint which decreases pain. Moreover, by decreasing inflammation, the joint damage may be slowed. In general, studies have shown that physical exercise of the affected joint can have noticeable improvement in terms of long-term pain relief. Furthermore, exercise of the arthritic joint is encouraged to maintain the health of the particular joint and the overall body of the person. There are several types of medications that are used for the treatment of arthritis. Treatment typically begins with medications that have the fewest side effects with further medications being added if insufficiently effective. Generally, steroids and NSAIDs are used. But, they cause severe side effects.

Curzest for Osteoarthritis

The hallmark of osteoarthritis (OA) is an imbalance between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory signaling in chondrocytes and synovial cells, with an abnormal activation of cytokine cascades and an overproduction of inflammatory mediators. The up- regulation of inflammatory cytokines like IL-1b and tumor necrosis factor-alpha leads to a decrease in collagen synthesis and, by activation of matrix metalloproteinases, to a corresponding increase in collagen degradation, with further up-regulation of mediators and effectors like IL-8, IL-6, prostaglandin E2, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and reactive oxygen species. Remarkably, curcumin can regulate in a beneficial fashion the activity of all the major inflammatory players involved in OA.

Curcumin acts at various levels of the inflammation cascade. It has an inhibitory effect on substances involved in the inflammatory pathway, including lipoxygenase, cyclooxy- genase (COX), phospholipase, collagenase, elastase, and hyaluronidase. Curcumin inhibits activation of free radical activated transcription factors such as nuclear factor kappa B and nitric oxide synthase. It also reduces proinflammatory cytokines: eg, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin (IL)-1 beta, IL-8, and matrix metalloproteinase-13. Curcumin strongly inhibits collagenase and stromelysin expression and thus preserves the cartilage. Curcumin is a potent inhibitor of the production of inflammatory and catabolic mediators by chondrocytes.

Osteoarthritis and related osteoarticular conditions of synovial joints are characterized by inflammation. NSAIDs such as diclofenac, acetaminophen can be helpful but NSAIDs can cause gastric and cardiovascular problems, kidney and liver damage. Curcumin’s biological actions in joint tissues facilitate the use of CURZEST as clinically safe, orally administered therapeutic agent for treating joint diseases.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disorder in which the body’s own immune system starts to attack body tissues. The attack is not only directed at the joint but to many other parts of the body. In rheumatoid arthritis, most damage occurs to the joint lining and cartilage that eventually results in erosion of two opposing bones.

RA often affects joints in the fingers, wrists, knees and elbows, is symmetrical (appears on both sides of the body), and can lead to severe deformity in a few years if not treated. RA occurs mostly in people aged 20 and above. In children, the disorder can present with a skin rash, fever, pain, disability, and limitations in daily activities. With earlier diagnosis and aggressive treatment, many individuals can lead a better quality of life than if going undiagnosed for long after RA’s onset.

One of the main triggers of bone erosion in the joints in rheumatoid arthritis is inflammation of the synovium, caused in part by the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and NFK b.

Curzest for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Anti inflammatory effects

When immune system starts attacking a body part, it activates certain cytokines and cells of the target tissue secrete an enzyme called COX2. COX 2 helps in formation of prostaglandin E2 that attracts inflammatory cytokines and immune system thus gets direction of the target tissue. These target tissues in case of RA are usually the joints.

Curcumin when fed continuously in considerable amounts, significantly decreases levels of COX enzyme and consequently, prostaglandin E2. This helps in inhibition of the target tissue to attract inflammatory cytokines.

Reduction in degeneration

When tissues get attacked by immune system in the body, they get inflamed and start degenerating. Inflammation induces cell death that slowly degenerates whole tissue in target area. Regular consumption of curcumin helps in reducing or arresting the process of degeneration in the arthritic bones, joints and tissues. This prevents occurrence of other diseases that usually prevail after suffering from arthritis for a long time

Induces programmed cell death in damaged tissue

When the cells in a tissue are damaged and inflamed, they still survive with that damage and keep on dividing. In case the damage becomes irreparable under normal conditions cells undergo death but in case of rheumatoid arthiritis, most don’t. The process of cell death in case of irreparable damage is known apoptosis and is regulated by pro apoptotic and anti apoptotic factors. Pro apoptotic factors such as different types of caspases get activated when an irreparable damage is detected. On the contrary, anti apoptotic factors are constitutively active in the cell to prevent unnecessary apoptosis or unnecessary activation of pro apoptotic factors.

In rheumatoid arthritis, when the tissue gets damages, in majority of the cases, the apoptosis is dysregulated. The pro apoptotic factors are down regulated where as the anti apoptotic factors are up regulated. The damage in the cells usually makes them acquire the genes that produce the pro inflammatory molecules like COX. The damage when passed down in new cells, increases the amounts of this inflammatory molecule release and attracts the immune system even more.

Curcumin regulates this dysregulated process of apoptosis in the inflamed cells in rheumatoid arthritis. It increases amount of proapoptotic factors (caspase 9 and caspase 3) in damaged cells and decreases amount of antiapoptotic factors like Bcl 2 in the same.This induces programmed cell death in the cells containing extensive irreparable damage and prevents them from dividing and letting the damage pass down to newly made cells, ultimately reducing the damage.

Protective effect on joints

Family history of rheumatoid arthritis increases the chances occurrence of this disease. Such people are at risk of getting their immune systems turned against their own tissues at any point of time.

Regular consumption of curcumin in regulated amounts protects the tissues from releasing inflammatory molecules and attracting their immune system to attack on. Curcumin exerts protective effects on joints and immune system by preventing the inflammation and the onset of rheumatoid arthritis beforehand .

Anti oxidant effect

Oxidation is a process that leads to extensive damage in the cells of the joints in rheumatoid arthritis. Oxidation happens when the damage in the joints due to immune attack starts secreting reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS such as NOS, peroxide and others react with the cellular components, kills them so that the cell dies and exacerbates rheumatoid arthritis.

Curcumin inhibits the secretion of several of the reactive oxygen species in tissue.This prevents the oxidation in the cells of the joints so that there is reduced degeneration in the target tissue accompanied by ameliorated symptoms and better pain management.